Growth and instability of wheat production in Rajasthan

Abstract

An attempt has made to compare the growth and instability of wheat crop pre and post Green Revolution in Rajasthan. It was found that growth of wheat area and production was significant statistical during 1963–72, 1973–82 and 2003–12. The highest growth of wheat production and productivity was 9.97 and 5.73 percent per annum during 1963–72 due to introduction of high yielding variety programme. Instability analysis indicated that wheat area was more stable than production and productivity. Instability of wheat production was highest during 1963–72 and lowest during 2003–12. The growth in area, production and yield during Green Revolution were 1.55, 4.23, and 2.63 percent, respectively, as against the pre-Green Revolution of-1.37, -2.09, and-0.72 percent. The coefficient of variation which is the indicator of instability, for area production and yield of wheat was higher in post-Green Revolution than pre-Green Revolution. Thus, policies should be made to reduce the risk in wheat production and more efforts are needed to ensure food and nutritional security put forth by the burgeoning population.